Ice Cube recently spilled the beans about the making of War of the Worlds in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Prime Video film has been considered by critics as one of the worst this year due to its baffling take on the classic H.G. Wells novel. People have been wondering whether the film experienced any behind-the-scenes trouble that led to the maligned final version that was released.
How Did War of the Worlds Get Made During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
During a recent interview with Kai Cenat (via Variety), Ice Cube opened up about the making of War of the Worlds for the first time since its release.
He revealed that he shot the film for 15 days during the COVID-19 pandemic without the presence of the director or any of his co-stars.
"[War of the Worlds] was a movie I did in 2020 during the pandemic. We shot it in 15 days, and it was during the pandemic. So the director wasn’t in there. None of the actors was in there. This was the only way we could really shoot the movie," the actor recalled.
In case you're wondering why the film took so long before it was released, Ice Cube explained that it was due to the change in distributor from Universal to Prime Video and the lengthy post-production process.
"All the footage is from real surveillance cameras all around the world. So they had to build all that s*** [and then collect and edit the footage]," he said.
Why War of the Worlds Was Slammed by Critics and Audiences?
As of this writing, War of the Worlds has a 4% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Only two critics on the site gave it a positive review.
Most of the criticism aimed towards its bad retelling of the classic story, the product placement of Amazon products, the performances of the cast, and the lack of entertainment value. Some have even called it one of the worst movies of all time.
A review from Variety slammed the movie as 90 minutes of "what amounts to a feature-length commercial for all things Amazon." Meanwhile, YouTuber Sean Chandler called out the film for getting "nearly everything wrong—from the weak cast and messy plot to the flimsy alien reveals and shameless product placement."
The reaction from the audience is similar, as most people who have seen the film on Prime Video also share negative sentiments and have given it low scores on various sites, such as Letterboxd and IMDb.
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